Animal leashes designed with shock reducing capability are well known in the art but all such leashes of the prior art rely in some way on the elasticity of at least some part of the leash strand itself. Examples of these shock absorbing leashes are seen in a sampling of prior U.S. patents.
U.S Pat. No. 2,275,701 to Taylor discloses a dog leash embodying an elastic lead strap in association with a rigid tube which substantially houses the strap when the latter is in its retraced position.
Gregory McPhail discloses a shock absorber leash in U.S. Pat. No. 5,146,876 that contains an elastic member in parallel with a non-elastic member in order to limit the extension of the elastic member.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,188,585 to Carter discloses a shock absorber leash having a plurality of strap subassemblies, one of non-elastic material and one of an elastic strip whose ends are attached to a cam buckle that adjusts the length of the elastic strip. The non-elastic portion limits the extension of the elastic strip. The foregoing examples of shock absorbing leashes all rely on the elasticity of the leash strand itself.
The primary object of the present invention is to mitigate shock to the handler of a variety of tethers, including animal leashes, where the tether strand itself is non-elastic.